


Jumping to Conclutions

by Mimiri



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Character Death, I'm Bad At Tagging, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Minor Character Death, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Out of Character, Out of Character Toph Beifong, Out of Character Zuko (Avatar), Suicide, Suicide Attempt, Suicide Notes, Tags May Change, and i can't write ooc characters so here's this trainwreck, i can't write, so she would have defo not stayed in the temple when she wanted to go find zuko to talk, tags will change, toph likes to do her own thing, well sort of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:48:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24436924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mimiri/pseuds/Mimiri
Summary: What if joining the gaang was Zuko's final battle? What if he lost that battle? What if he left nothing but a note and a knife?
Relationships: The Gaang & Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 52





	Jumping to Conclutions

( ~~shit! How could I forget!~~ )

**Sokka's POV**

All of us were just waking up when Toph suddenly shot a rock the size of a head out of the ground and towards the other side of the platform, resulting in a shout and the sound of a body dropping for cover. The loud action and reaction caused our entire campsite to wake up and turn to find Zuko in a crouched position with a dent of where his torso probably would have been if he hadn’t dodged. Everyone’s frozen in confusion until the firebender speaks up with a voice rougher than usual.

“Oh, um, I thought you guys would be the type to sleep in longer. I just came by to, uh, drop t-these off?” He held up a slip of paper and...something else. He’s too far away for me to know. Dropping the item and paper he retreated back around the corner he, supposedly, came around before Toph threw a small boulder at him.

I notice when Aang starts to walk towards whatever that creep ‘dropped off’. “Aang, stop! He might have left some kind of trap.”

“No, it doesn’t seem like it. Whatever that is, it’s too small.” Without pause, he walks over to where Zuko was mere moments before, We could probably still catch him if we wanted directly followed by, nearly, the rest of us. Haru’s helping Teo into his chair. I’m only about 67% sure this isn’t a trap. The Duke gets to the front of the group ~~not good, little kid, trap~~ and picks up the unknown item. Being the closest, Aang asks the obvious question “What is it?’

The kid responds while unsheathing it “A knife. It looks like it’s from the Earth Kingdom.

Holding his hand out, Aang offers to read it to make sure “Yep, this says ‘Made in Earth Kingdom’. Good eye, Duke!”

Katara speaks up with a growl “He must have stolen it! Most likely from a poor refuge that was already short on luck.”

“We don’t know that, Katara. You know what they say about assuming things.”

“Hey!” Toph makes herself known, having picked up the ignored paper and holding it out “Is anyone going to read this!? I’m curious about what it says!”

“Here, I got it.” I grab the paper and flip it over, she was holding it upsidedown “Oh, why the heck did he write so much!”

“Sokka,” Katara seems like an impatient one nowadays “just read it!”

“Ok, ok. Calm down. Ahem! ‘Dear Avatar,’ oh, you wanna read this alone Aang?”

Aang laughs “No, it’s ok Sokka!”

“Cool.

Dear Avatar,

Please, take this pearl-handle knife. You’ll need this to help fight my father. This knife helped me out of a lot of ditches in the past and I hope it can help you how it helped me. After the war, if you don’t want it or you just come across a young boy and his family of a mother, brother, and father, please, give it to him. They have a farm with a broken roof. There are probably so many others with this description, but I’m not the greatest with words. ~~Especially right now~~

You need a firebending teacher. My uncle is the Dragon of the West. He’s one of the strongest firebenders and the best teacher anyone could ask for. ~~I took him for granted~~ Maybe you have higher standards, but I wouldn’t know. He taught me nearly everything I know, ~~still not good enough~~ and he is no longer loyal to the fire nation. He probably has been since his son died in his Siege of Ba Sing Se. ~~I miss him~~ This knife was a gift to me from my uncle.

When his siege succeeded, the general gave this to him as a token of his surrender. Uncle thought I would like it as a gift. ~~So long ago~~ He was right. It’s sharp. Take care of it. Take care.

-Formerly ~~Prince~~ Zuko

He couldn’t have narrowed that down?! Like, at all!? That's so much to read!”

A:“‘Never give up without a fight.’ Wow, Earth kingdom citizens still say that!”

K:“What do you mean by that, Aang?”

A:“Oh, there was more writing on the back of this knife. A hundred years ago, the people of the Earth kingdom practically lived and breathed the mantra ‘never give up without a fight’ and, it seems, they still do! I wonder how Zuko knew I’d like this.”

S:“Something doesn’t feel right here.”

K:“Yeah, Aang’s not a fighter. Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you hold a knife, Aang.”

S:“No, not that! My instincts are telling me something’s wrong. Like, severely.”

K:“With Zuko? There’s always something wrong with that lier. Anyway, I’m gonna go start breakfast.”

A:“Wait, Katara, haven’t we learned to trust Sokka’s instinct by now? What if something is wrong? We should check the perimeter. Right, Sokka?”

S:”Yeah, that’s probably our best bet. Aang, you can check the cliffside with your glider. Toph, make sure the temple is clear of anyone that isn’t us, and if you can, check the nearby forest. If you come across Zuko, don’t engage. I’ll take Appa through the ravine for any ships.”

K:”Hey, what about me! I don’t get a fancy job?!”

S:”I thought you wanted to make breakfast?”

K:”Ugh! Men!”

S:”Uh, ok. Split!”

* * *

S:”So, report?”

K:”I made breakfast.”

S:”We know, Katara, and it was delicious.”

K:"It was just rice!”

S:”I was trying to be nice!”

T:”Ok, ok, you’re both pretty! The quicker we report the quicker we can go back to doing nothing.”

S:”Exactly. I’ll go first, I have nothing to report. We didn’t find any fire nation ships.”

K:”Did you look at the bottom of the ravine?”

S:”Obviously not! It’s impossible to see anything down there! I’d need some kind of super lantern!”

K:”What if the fire nation is down there! They have firebending to make something like that!”

A:”Guys, guys, there’s no need for yelling. I wanna share what I found; it’s important.”

S:”Sorry, sorry. It’s just, my instincts won’t stop yelling that something is off...anway, what did you find, Aang?”

“Well, I found Zuko’s shoes.”

Everyone:”What??”

T:”Just his shoes??”

A:”Yeah. And a note was in one of them. It’s instructions on how to find Zuko’s uncle. Something about tea and pai sho? It’s confusing.”

S:”Ooookay? We’ll come back to that. Did you find anything, Toph?”

T:”the temple is empty of intruders and I found Zuko’s camp bu-”

E:”What!!?”

T:”Buuut! It was empty! Geeze, let a gal finish her sentence.”

S:”Wait, how do you know It was Zuko’s camp if it was empty?”

“Who else would camp out in the woods in the middle of nowhere with barely the mear essentials?”

K:”Did you steal anything?”

“No!”

“...”

“Yes.”

*Earthbends bag out of hiding place, probably underground*

A:”His entire bag! Toph, he needs that to survive!”

T:”What! He’ll come and get it eventually!”

K:”Toph, we want him to come around here as little as posable!”

T:”I still think you guys are being hard on him! He wants to help Aang learn firebending!”

K;”He’s evil and a lier!

S:”OK! Let’s ignore the Zuko problem right now and read whatever this new note is.”

K:”Yes, cause that doesn’t concern Zuko at all.”

S:”Ack! You know what I mean, Katara!”

K:”Yeah, whatever. Just get on with it.”

S:”Ok, I guess I’m reading again. 

Dear ~~whoever finds this~~ Avatar,

There wasn’t enough room on the other note for these directions and your gonna really need instructions for where my uncle is most likely hiding. I’m not the best with words, but I hope I can do him justice. Finding friends that don’t want to kill you 101: you can find them in shady places, waiting for a white lie of a pai sho game. Not many still cling to the ancient ways, those who do can always find a friend. The lotus tile is your key to the board. Don’t let this information fall into the wrong hands, a lot of old bags will lose. The game is more than a game to those who have tasted the fruit and guarded its mysteries.

If you can’t figure it out, or can’t find any players, find a bounty hunter named June. she was the woman with the shirshu. She can track anyone’s scent as long as you have something of whoever you’re looking for. In my bag is one of my uncle's old sandals. I don’t know which way would be easier in finding him, but if you don’t give up, I’m sure you could find him eventually. Don’t take too long though.

My father is planning on destroying the earth kingdom on the day of Sozin’s comet. You can’t let that happen. He’s a monster and must be stopped in any way posable. My uncle will help you, I know it. He is a kind man with a heart too good for a ~~son~~ nephew like me. Tell him I’m sorry for me, ok? That’s all I ask of you on my behalf. 

-Formerly Zuko

**[SCREEEEE!! Sorry, here's another timeline!]**

S:”So, report?”

T:”Shouldn’t we wait for twinkle toes?”

“Eh, we can fill him in when he gets back”

K:”We should go look for him. What if-”

S:”Katara, he’s the avatar. He’s fine.”

“But-”

“Stop it. Look, there’s your boyfriend.”

“He is not my boyfriend!”

S:”Hey, Aang, we were about to do reports.”

A:”I-i should probably go first then…”

"…"

“Well??”

“I’m still trying to process it myself. Um, I don’t know how to put this lightly, but...Zuko’s dead.”

"…"

Someone:”What…? Wh-what happened?!”

“Combustion man happened; he was near the temple cliffs.”

K:“What? Why didn’t I hear anything?!”

“I don’t know, but he was already fighting with Zuko. I jumped in to help and Zuko told me to shoot him toward the other guy. I didn’t realize what was happening until it was too late. They both went over the edge and Zuko just wouldn’t let go of him. Something about keeping him pinned and to just go. *sniff* I tried, but I was too late. *hic* They exploded when combustion tried to use his bending. There wasn’t anything left.” *sob*

(katara comforts Aang)

"..."

T:”Woah. That’s...that’s why his campsite was abandoned.”

S:”You-you found where he was staying?”

“Yeah...I-um*stomps and bag flies out of ground*I stole his bag…”

“...It would be weird to rummage through that, wouldn’t it?”

“Probably.”

*very mucus-filled sniff*

A:“He left his shoes and a note on the cliffside. I think it’s instructions on how to find his uncle. I can’t figure it out.”

S:”Here, I’ll read it.”

Dear Avatar,

There wasn’t enough room on the other note for these directions and your gonna really need instructions for where my uncle is most likely hiding. I’m not the best with words, but I hope I can do him justice. Finding friends that don’t want to kill you 101: you can find them in shady places, waiting for a white lie of a pai sho game. Not many still cling to the ancient ways, those who do can always find a friend. The lotus tile is your key to the board. Don’t let this information fall into the wrong hands, a lot of old bags will lose. The game is more than a game to those who have tasted the fruit and guarded its mysteries.

If you can’t figure it out, or can’t find any players, find a bounty hunter named June. she was the woman with the shirshu. She can track anyone’s scent as long as you have something of whoever you’re looking for. In my bag is one of my uncle's old sandals. I don’t know which way would be easier in finding him, but if you don’t give up, I’m sure you could find him eventually. Don’t take too long though.

My father is planning on destroying the Earth kingdom on the day of Sozin’s comet. You can’t let that happen. He’s a monster and must be stopped in any way posable. My uncle will help you, I know it. He is a kind man with a heart too good for a ~~son~~ nephew like me. Tell him I’m sorry for me, ok? That’s all I ask of you on my behalf.

-Formerly Zuko

I think...he was planning on-on jumping himself. Before he was attacked.”

"..."

T:”I think we fucked up.

**Author's Note:**

> I had a prompt that went something along the lines of the summary while trying to fall asleep one night. I immediately wrote a shitty not bullet point thing(?) on the spot. Finally got around to writing one of the chapters to it. This actually came to me before atla was put back onto Netflix.
> 
> I need some help with this, actually. I can't choose which way to write this(like everything I do)either the gaang sees Zuko jump off the cliff with combustion man or the gaang stay in the dark about what took place on the cliffs. My original line of brain electricity was the gaang immediately catch onto what Zuko's doing, goes into panic mode, they find him, fighting combustion man, and when they try to help, someone's able to get combustion close enough to the edge that Zuko tackles him over the side, taking what he sees as finally having some luck while everyone else finally sees his unluckiness.
> 
> This is obviously still in its beginning stages, hell, I gave up writing any directions on the first page, but I wasn't finding enough, or really any, 'Zuko loses hope' material so I finally made it myself.
> 
> (hopefully, I don't half abandon it like my other fanfic. JSYK, I have half of the 2nd chapter written, I just don't know how to make the final insult that snaps the camel's back natural)


End file.
